ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Hurricane Sandy Victims Abandoned by Congress

Updated on November 10, 2013

Written as an open letter to Speaker John Boehner and members of the 112th United States Congress.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. John Boehner, Ohio
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. John Boehner, Ohio | Source

I watched in horror as the 112th Congress turned its back on the victims of Hurricane Sandy on January 1, 2013. With Senate approval for $60 billion in relief funds, all that was needed to get that money to those who need it the most was a vote. Speaker Boehner had promised a vote on the bill that would give badly needed federal aid to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut to help with the recovery. And then, he vanished without putting the motion to the floor. As several representatives begged for a vote on the issue, the acting speaker rapidly and quite rudely ignored the majority voice and closed the session for the night.

Speaker Boehner, as a member of the House of Representatives, you were elected to serve the people. How did you become capable of such callous disregard for human suffering? The action last night sure felt like and appeared to be a partisan insult. Tell me this isn’t about a Republican Governor shaking hands with a Democratic President out of gratitude for his support when disaster struck his district. Please tell me that you did not abandon those that are cold and hungry or still living in cars or shelters for the sake of making a political point. Really? Have you forgotten that you are paid an average annual salary of $223,000 and that “we the people” pay your salary? You should be ashamed of yourself and we should fire you.

political parties of the 112th US Congress
political parties of the 112th US Congress | Source

Mr. Speaker, did you sleep good in your warm bed last night? Did you enjoy a bottle or two of the bubbly with friends last night? Did you charge a nice big breakfast to the taxpayers this morning too? Doesn’t it bother you at all, that you didn’t honor your word? And to the rest of Congress who supported the shenanigans of this last session of the year, do you think you will be elected again? My God I hope Americans are smarter than that.

Mr. Speaker, you and your cohorts have embarrassed yourselves. You are not worthy of calling yourself a public servant and you certainly are not worthy of the generous salary you are receiving. Whatever respect you think you have earned in the past was nullified by your action in this session of the Congress. Hide in the shadows if you will but your true colors have been flashed across every television screen in America. For those that did not watch the session on CSPAN, the media has provided the footage on every segment of today’s news. You screwed the pooch this time, I think.

The people are tired Mr. Speaker. We are fed up with this crap called politics. This country was founded on some basic principles; all of which you have arrogantly disregarded. God forbid you ever have a disaster of significant magnitude in your state sir because I doubt seriously if the average American will offer a hand up when you need it the most. Sadly, it will be the people again who suffer and not the arrogant liars we have elected. I hope you can live with

UPDATE: November 2013

Another election has come and gone. We've all watched in horror as our elected officials put pride ahead of what is best for our country. We've seen partisan politics shut down government agencies while millions of hard working citizens wondered how they would feed their families or pay the next month's mortgage payment. And we wonder out loud - will we ever learn?


While our elected officials go about their lives, eating in fine restaurants, traveling abroad, and preparing for the the winter holidays, thousands of people along the Jersey shore are still without shelter. The resources necessary to rebuild their lives from the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy have not arrived. For those, there will be no feast of Thanksgiving and for many, no Hanukkah or Christmas celebration either. The families who fell victim to Hurricane Sandy remain the "forgotten ones" by our elected officials.

© 2013 Linda Crist

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)